Close the Camps Statement in Support of Friday’s “FTP Emergency Action Against NYPD and MTA”
We are proud to endorse “FTP Emergency Action Against NYPD and MTA” in opposition to the aggressive presence of police in NYC subways. The increasing escalation of violence and death upon poor and working class black and brown people on public transportation, and throughout the city, must be resisted. The protest is on Friday, 11/1, from 5:15 to 7pm at McLaughlin Park (Tillary St, Brooklyn, New York 11201).
NYPD arrests in our subways put undocumented people at risk of detention or deportation. This outcome is wildly disproportionate to undocumented immigrants who are unable to pay subway fares, or who commit other minor infractions while riding public transportation. Our city is flooding the subways with police in order to criminalize poverty, and the potential danger to undocumented immigrants is especially acute. In order to protect our undocumented friends and neighbors, we need to get the cops out of the subways.
Also, at our immigration justice actions, we call attention to the inhumane practices of detention, including the unnecessary caging of undocumented immigrants. Just as it is wrong to detain and cage immigrants, we reject the city’s punitive and carceral approach to crime in the subway. We don’t want migrants in cages, and we don’t want any New Yorkers in cages because they cannot pay a subway fare. Police and jails are not the solution — they are the problem. No one should be fined, arrested, or imprisoned because they cannot afford a subway fare.
We will be supporting Friday’s action, and we invite you to join us. We are fighting the criminalization of poverty. We are fighting to protect the undocumented community from the threat of the NYPD. We are fighting for a world where no one is caged. Just as we challenge the racism of ICE, we are here to challenge the racism of the NYPD.
We are proud to support the organizers of this action, including
Decolonize This Place
South Asia Solidarity Initiative
No New Jails NYC
Why Accountability
Take Back The Bronx
Peoples Power Assemblies NYC
NYC Shut It Down: The Grand Central Crew #blacklivesmatter
